One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

by Harold Morse Dunphy

PLAN No. 962. PART I. STEAM RAILROADS

Railroading in the United States is a gigantic enterprise. In 1916, a prewar year, our railroads possessed about 65,000 locomotives, 2,342,000 freight cars, 55,000 passenger cars, and 98,000 company service cars. There were 259,000 miles of single track and enough of double track to raise this figure to 293,000 miles of main track. In addition there were 102,000 miles of sidings. Employees of railroads numbered 1,654,000 and were paid $1,403,968,000 as their compensation for the year 1916. Obviously, among so large a number of employees operating so varied an equipment are found many different trades and occupations.

Safety on Railroads

Railroading is attended with personal risk for many of the employees, but only in a small number of cases is a man who is disabled in the service of a railroad rendered unfit for further service. Many of the older railroad men have suffered injuries of some sort, since the use of safety devices is relatively recent. Quite a number of injured men have in the past been given office, clerical, or watchmen’s work, since there is a vast amount of such work to be done, and it involves comparatively little personal risk.

Factors Controlling Promotion

For the man who lacks a technical or college education there is almost a dead line to promotion into the higher offices. For instance, the wide-awake section hand can become a section foreman, then a construction gang foreman, a supervisor, and perhaps a roadmaster. But he can hardly ever hope to become an engineer of maintenance of way unless he acquires in the meanwhile an extended knowledge of civil engineering especially as applied to railroading. The disabled soldier or sailor, if unfitted to pursue his old occupation, can secure this very desirable training through the Federal Board for Vocational Education. He can thus secure an advancement that he might not otherwise have obtained.

There have been three conflicting forces governing promotions in railroading—favoritism, seniority, and efficiency. At one time favoritism was so strong that graft and toadyism gave inexperienced men promotion over men with long experience. The seniority rule was introduced by the labor organizations to offset the old evil, and for two men of equal intelligence and native ability selection by seniority is a fair method of giving promotion. In such a case seniority coincides with efficiency. But seniority of itself does not necessarily in all cases give the higher position to the man best fitted for it, since long years in the service will not train the thoughtless, careless man as well as a few years will the alert man. Railroad employees in all branches of the service strongly contend as a group for their seniority rights. This means that an outsider usually has a long waiting period for advancement into the best positions. Efficiency is becoming more the rule, but the old influences still prevail in some departments, partly because standards of efficiency are rather indeterminate, largely because changes in a widespread system can not be wrought in a day. If favoritism could be abolished employees would not insist so strenuously upon their seniority rights.

Since the railroads have been subjected to public regulation they have appreciated the value of courteous treatment of the public. Accordingly they reward the courteous employees by promotion, and no longer tolerate a grossly uncivil one as they did in the early days.

Loyalty to the railroad organization is regarded to-day by railroad officials as the foremost requisite for those wishing promotion—a loyalty that places the railroad organization first, whether it be a question of public regulation or of labor unionization. Fairfax Harrison, president of the Southern Railway Co., has thus stated the case:

“There are three requisites for advancement in railroad service—loyalty, efficiency in your present job, and preparedness for larger responsibilities. Efficiency and preparedness for higher place go together, for that man will be most efficient in his present job who is not content with mere mechanical performance of his duties, but who has an intelligent understanding of them in their relation to the service as a whole and who has qualified to take over the duties and responsibilities of his immediate superior on a moment’s notice.”

Why Take The Training?

It is however, a generally known fact among railroaders that few men in the lower positions have the chance to learn efficiently all the duties required of them in the next higher position. For example, a track workman rarely has the opportunity to make out reports and payrolls, or even to do alignment sighting, unless he is favored by his foreman. By taking the training provided by the Federal Board he can learn to do this and other highly skilled work, and thus have an unusual opportunity for advancement. He could study civil engineering and become an engineer-maintenance-of-way.

Classes of Railroad Occupations

There are various ways of classifying railroad employees, but we shall use here a grouping suited to our purposes, based largely on physical and mental requirements and the training involved. We are not so much concerned with the several administrative departments—accounting, operating, traffic, etc.—as with the work done in different occupations. There is obviously a marked difference between the physical requirements for an office position and those for a position as railroad brakeman. On a basis of the requirements made upon the employee, railroad occupations may be grouped as follows:

1. Office or clerical work.

2. Shop work—repairing equipment.

3. Track work—repairing track and structures.

4. Train work—operating the trains.

5. Work conducing directly to train operation.

PLAN No. 963. OFFICE AND CLERICAL WORK

In railroad office and clerical work the requirements upon the employee are mainly mental. In this group we find the general and divisional officers—financial, legal, surgical, engineering, managing—telegraphers, train dispatchers and train directors, telephone operators, station agents, passengers and freight agents, station masters, and all sorts of clerks—accountants, rate clerks, traffic clerks, etc. For these positions a man may qualify although he may have suffered from considerable physical disabilities, providing he is mentally alert and has some knowledge of railroading. The knowledge that a man should acquire or the training that he should take will, of course, depend upon the particular position he wishes to fill.

Let us consider some of the principal office and clerical occupations, so that you may be able to select the one that appeals to you. We may well begin with the telegraph operator.

PLAN No. 964. TELEGRAPHY AS AN OCCUPATION FOR THE DISABLED

Few physical disabilities will debar an intelligent man from becoming a telegraph operator. Poor hearing, the loss of both arms or of both eyes are handicaps that can not be overcome, but nearly any other disability can be overcome. The occupation rarely subjects a man to exposure to bad weather. Telegrapher’s cramp and electric shocks are the chief occupational hazards to be guarded against.

The position of the operator is stimulating, even at a small station on a through line, since much of the important news of the day goes over the wires. Of course, he is bound to keep secret all such news, and there are through wires on which he can not listen in.

Telegraphic Apparatus

The instruments used consist of a key for sending messages and a relay or sounder for receiving messages. To install an outfit is a simple matter for anyone who is at all familiar with the action of an electric current, for the principle of operation is merely that of breaking up the flow of current into dots and dashes in various combinations.

Training for Telegraphy

However, facility in transferring letters into dots and dashes and translating dots and dashes into letters is not so easily acquired. Only after much practice does the beginner form the habit of doing this readily. He must of course memorize the Morse alphabet, but, further than that, he must become so familiar with the dots and dashes that when he hears them in combination he thinks that he is actually hearing a word, not a certain number of dots and dashes. He must form the habit of thinking words in dots and dashes without thinking of the clicks, just as one reads a page without thinking of the separate printed letters that go to make up the words.

The operator needs further to acquire a rapid legible handwriting, so that he can write down rapidly the message as he receives it and never get very far behind the sender. Since, however, it is difficult for one to write as fast as an experienced sender can send, the operator must learn to retain in mind a number of words and phrases, so that when he is receiving messages sent rapidly he can copy behind the sender and catch up at breaks for new sentences and paragraphs, or at the end. Some operators have learned to receive messages, writing them out on the typewriter as they come over the wire. This is an accomplishment worth striving to attain, especially if one can not write legibly and at the same time rapidly.

The Telegrapher Must Learn More Than Mere Telegraphy

There are a number of other things that the telegraph operator needs to learn, especially if he holds a position at a small station. He must learn a large number of abbreviations, so that he knows immediately what they mean. Some of these abbreviations are made up of the main consonants in the word, while others are simply arbitrary numbers. Sometimes these numbers refer to a printed form which he must use repeatedly. A knowledge of switchboards and cut-outs, of installation and renewal of batteries, and of care and adjustment of instruments is highly desirable and usually necessary. All operators must know the rules and regulations of the company and govern themselves accordingly, and they must be fully acquainted with signaling systems and appliances.

If the operator is located at a small station, he probably has part or all the work of the station agent to perform at some time. If he is located at a large station, there are emergencies when he may be called upon to do such work, so that he should become familiar with the work of the station agent. This, of course, means that he must become familiar with rates, both freight and passenger, must sell tickets, make out freight bills, and do railroad bookkeeping. The complaint most frequently made against schools teaching telegraphy is that the student is taught telegraphy and nothing else, so that when he takes employment he has to learn at once nearly everything connected with station work.

Hours and Wages of Telegraphers

Hours are generally eight per day, and wages are good, averaging around $1,100 or $1,200 per year for all operators, which means that the efficient employee who works regularly gets much more than $1,200. Employment is regular throughout the year. Rarely does an operator send or receive for a long period of time without a break to rest. Most messages are ten-word ones, which means the transmission of probably not over twenty words, including names, addresses, and office data.

Will Telegraphers be Needed?

As to the permanency of the occupation, there is only the telephone that in any way threatens to make the telegrapher unnecessary. The limitations of the telephone are such, however, as to make that instrument supplemental to the telegraph. The telephone is, for example, more liable to get out of order, because the apparatus is more complicated, and when out of order it can not easily be put in commission again by the average operator. The telegraph lends itself readily to codes and a written record is usually made of messages sent by telegraph, while the telephone lends itself readily to conversation. Thus each has its own proper uses. The wireless seems to be better adapted to telegraph instruments than to the telephone, especially for long distances. There has been no practical device invented for relaying messages mechanically with the telephone, as can be done with the telegraph. Although the telephone has proved to be satisfactory in the direction of trains, and is being installed on the railroads rather generally, it is hardly probable that it will entirely displace the telegraph. However, it is to be noted that there is some possibility that the service may be flooded with telegraphers only partially qualified to do their work. Radio operators trained in the war can readily become telegraph operators and during the war many women have learned telegraphy. A disabled soldier or sailor entering this occupation should take supplementary training for the position of station agent, so that he may in some measure avoid the competition of radio and women operators.

Disabled Soldiers Who Have Learned Telegraphy

By way of illustration a few cases may be cited of disabled Canadian soldiers who have taken training as telegraphers and entered successfully into this work. Returned soldiers whose former occupations had been that of farmer or farm hand have taken the training courses offered them by their Government, and have thus fitted themselves for this, to them, entirely new line of work. One farm hand, for example, disabled by stiffness of the left elbow, studied telegraphy and secured a position as assistant agent on the Grand Trunk Railway. Another disabled soldier, a former farmer, suffering from leg trouble, studied telegraphy and now holds a position as a railroad telegrapher at a salary of $95 per month. (Salaries paid telegraphers in the United States are considerably higher than in Canada.) Another farmer so disabled in the army that he had but little use of his left leg took a course in telegraphy and now holds a position as an operator paying $82.50 per month, with house, light, and heat free. Still another farmer, who lost his left arm in the army, after studying telegraphy secured a position as a wireless operator at $85 per month and board. If you have not lost your mental equipment and ambition, you can do as well as or better than these disabled Canadians have done.

Other disabled soldiers have taken training for telegraphy to enable them to get into an employment paying more than their former occupation and giving more regular employment. A waiter afflicted with heart trouble, for example, a bricklayer who lost three fingers on his left hand and had wrist injured, a rubber-shoe maker afflicted with stiffness of the left elbow joint, each studied telegraphy, and each has secured a position on Canadian railways.

Old railroad men whose disabilities prevented them from returning to their former occupations have taken training for telegraphy, in which branch of railroading working conditions were better than in their old jobs. A locomotive fireman who had sustained a gunshot wound and lost the vision of his right eye and a finger from his left hand studied telegraphy and secured a position as a station agent. A lineman whose legs were too weak for his old position took both the commercial and telegraphy courses and now has a position as an operator at $88 per month. If you have had practical experience as a railroad man, the courses offered you by your Government will give you the training necessary to enable you to secure that higher position which you have often hoped you could get. Why do you not make your disability your opportunity for advancement? Now is the time to take the training and secure that promotion.

Line of Promotion for Telegraphers

An operator may be promoted to a position as train dispatcher, or as station agent, depending upon his interest and abilities and upon the available opportunities. Opportunities to become station agents are more frequent, because the number of station agents employed is much larger, and promotion in this line may be continued by transfer from a small to a larger station. Before passing to a consideration of the occupation of the station agent, we shall note briefly the position of the train dispatcher.

PLAN No. 965. THE TRAIN DISPATCHER

The train dispatcher must be an expert operator and must have other qualifications which he may have acquired while working as an operator. He must understand the workings of the operating department; he must know the location of sidings and telegraph offices, the distances, grades, and track conditions between sidings and offices, and something of engineers, engines, and train loads. He must have a clear head and must not get confused nor trust to memory or guess as to location of trains. He must keep a record of the progress of all trains and refer to it constantly. He must have the ability to direct men in person or at a distance, since the operators are subject to his orders. It is absolutely necessary that he know thoroughly all the operating rules and regulations of the road. The position is one of great responsibility, especially on roads with heavy traffic on a single-track system. Since he must direct all trains on his division, the mental strain at times is considerable. But the hours are usually short, and the wages paid are high—the annual average being nearly twice that for operators.

The train dispatcher may advance to the position of chief dispatcher, whose duties include supervision of train dispatchers, and general operation of all trains. In emergencies his duties and responsibilities are especially exacting.

PLAN No. 966. THE STATION AGENT

In no one other position probably are working conditions so varied as in that of the station agent. He may be located at a small village on a branch line where he meets perhaps two trains a day and performs all the work around the office from telegraphing to caring for the United States mail. Or he may be located in a large city, where his work is that of supervising a small army of employees. But whether he is in the smallest position or in the largest, he must understand the railroad’s business as it relates to his work. He must understand rates, both passenger and freight; must know how to keep records and accounts correctly; how to make out freight bills and coupon tickets, even although he himself may not have to do this work; and he must know how to handle men. It is through him that the public comes most closely in contact with the railroad, and he can make or lose traffic for the railroad by the manner in which he meets customers or would-be customers. Courtesy in station agents is being prized more and more by railroad administrators. A popular agent is an asset, an uncivil one, a liability. The agent at a small station can obtain much business for the company through a knowledge of through rates and routes, although he must allow the shipper to choose the route. All station agents must be experienced operators on lines where the telephone is not used. They must be thoroughly familiar with railroad signals and with traffic rules and regulations. Even in a small place, the agent comes more in contact with the outside world than most of the other inhabitants of the village. His position is one of financial responsibility, since he handles large sums of money. Upon him devolves largely responsibility also for the safety of travelers and freight, since he plays a part in the directing of trains. He can save the railroad from losses in claims for lost and damaged goods, by seeing that names and addresses are marked clearly on packages, that goods are packed properly for shipment, and that packages are handled carefully.

PLAN No. 967. STATION CLERKS, BAGGAGEMEN, AND OTHER WORKERS

At the larger stations, the work of the station agent is that of supervising a large number of clerks, baggagemen, and other workers.

Among these clerks are ticket sellers whose duties are to calculate rates and fill out coupon tickets with correct routings, and to sell local and excursion tickets. They must be very careful to make correct charge for the tickets sold. They make out detailed reports of the tickets sold and money received.

The head baggageman and his assistants receive and forward all baggage left with them, determine if there is any excess and collect the charges for excess. They issue duplicate checks for baggage left with them when the passenger presents his ticket and asks for the checks. They also give out baggage arriving at the station on presentation of the duplicate check issued at another office. The head baggageman must be able to handle men and direct them so as to avoid making mistakes, but he must usually be physically able himself to handle baggage.

In the freight department are rate clerks, who give information as to rates and classifications; billing clerks, who bill freight, enter weights, etc.; and other clerks, who attend to accounts, records, correspondence, and claims.

Disabled soldiers or sailors with good common-school education could, after short periods of training, fill any of these positions. Salaries average slightly less than $1,000 per year. For ticket sellers comparatively few disabilities are serious handicaps, except such as may be repellant to the traveling public, which does not usually like to be reminded of accidents. Freight clerks have not even this condition to meet, and if they are not called upon to handle freight they will not be seriously handicapped by physical disabilities which would bar them from many occupations.

At important freight centers a considerable number of employees are directly engaged in handling freight, under the supervision of a freight-house foreman. This foreman has charge of the freight house, directs the placing of cars at the warehouse and the loading and unloading of freight, and is responsible for keeping records so that freight may be readily found. He must be able to handle men, and must know how freight should be packed and stored, both in the freight house and in the cars. He must be able to classify freight and to file properly all records relating to freight. He has usually been promoted from a position as checker, warehouseman, or trucker. Any disabled man who has held such jobs, if he is intelligent and can handle men, could with some training become a freight-house foreman. Poor sight or hearing would, however, usually be serious handicaps.

The freight checker has a position that pays better than that of the trucker—who is rated as an unskilled laborer. The freight checker checks the freight into and out of the freight house, warehouse, or car. He must be able to check consignments accurately, and should know the classes of freight.

At transfer points, a transfer agent performs duties similar to those performed in the positions just considered. He sees that shipments are properly transferred. He makes the necessary notations on waybills, and keeps a complete record of the transfer and of the cost incurred. He must understand loading and unloading freight and must be able to handle laborers. Not infrequently he has been promoted from a position as agent at a small station. A disabled man with good sight and hearing, who can write, might be trained for this position.

PLAN No. 968. DIVISION SUPERVISORS

At division points on the railroads, there are a number of station and yard employees whose duties are supervisory. Among these employees are the station master with his assistant, the supervising agent, the yardmaster, with his assistant, and the train director.

PLAN No. 969. THE STATION MASTER AND HIS ASSISTANT

The station master directs the making up and dispatching of local passenger trains, receives and dispatches through passenger trains, and looks after the necessary shifting of cars in such trains. He sees that all these trains are provided with crews ready to take prompt charge of the train. He has general supervision over all employees about the station, and reports on neglect of duty by any of these.

The assistant station master has the same general duties as the station master and must have the same qualifications. The assistant works when the station master is off duty, or in the larger stations relieves the station master of part of his work.

These men must be courteous to the traveling public, and must have had experience in the operation of trains in the yards, so as to be able to direct train movements efficiently. They must have the ability to handle men and to make sound decisions quickly. The physical requirements are good health, sight, and hearing. Disabilities which would not prevent quick movement from place to place would not be serious handicaps to well qualified men.

PLAN No. 970. THE SUPERVISING AGENT

The supervising agent has general charge of passenger, baggage, freight, and scale agents. He employs and supervises the employees who take care of the station grounds and buildings. He must possess executive ability, and must have had experience in the positions he supervises, to enable him to select properly qualified men, and to direct their work intelligently.

PLAN No. 971. THE YARDMASTER AND HIS ASSISTANT

The yardmaster has immediate supervision over yard employees and yard operation. On some railroads he has also supervision over the calling of train crews and the train seniority list. He is aided in his work by assistant yardmasters and by yard clerks. The assistant yardmasters’ duties and qualifications are of the same general character as those of the yardmaster.

These men must see that cars are not unnecessarily delayed in passing through their yard. They must receive the waybills for cars arriving, and deliver these to the conductors taking charge of the cars when they depart. They must make records of all the transactions and fill out reports. They must be thoroughly familiar with the rules governing train operation and defining the duties of employees connected with train service. The yardmaster must see that all orders are properly given and executed. He must have good color eyesight and hearing, and be able to stand exposure to weather. He would not be seriously handicapped by the loss of limbs, provided he could write out reports and make records and move quickly from place to place. A disabled trainman could take training for the position of assistant yardmaster and thus be in line for promotion to the position of yardmaster, although the seniority rule might prevent him from getting this promotion quickly.

PLAN No. 972. THE TRAIN DIRECTOR

The duties of the train director are to receive and transmit train orders for the movement of trains, from the train dispatcher to the train crews. Accordingly he must be an expert telegrapher or telephoner, have good color eyesight and good hearing, and be thoroughly familiar with the rules and regulations relating to the movement and signaling of trains.

PLAN No. 973. OTHER STATION AND YARD WORKERS

Under the station masters, yardmasters, and supervisors are a number of minor clerks, attendants, and laborers. But little skill is required of the laborers, whose work is largely physical and the wages paid them are the usual wages for unskilled labor. The duties of minor clerks vary so from station to station and so overlap that any detailed account of their services would be confusing. Some of these clerical positions might be suitable for some disabled men, and the training necessary is usually short. It must in fact generally be taken in the position itself for the special duties assigned in the given case.

PLAN No. 974. TRAIN CALLERS AND TICKET EXAMINERS

A disabled man with a good voice and memory might become a train caller at a large station. A disabled passenger conductor might become a ticket examiner, since his knowledge of tickets and of the various stations would be the sort of information required for this position; but the pay would probably be lower than that of conductors.

PLAN No. 975. OFFICE WORK

In the divisional or general offices the reports, accounts, and similar matters that come in from station agents are handled. There is the accounting division concerned with receipts and expenditures, most of which are for small amounts, and all of which must be totaled in various ways—a considerable task of itself. Expenditures must frequently be analyzed according to different regulations, and reports must be compiled for State and Federal commissions. Because of these requirements the railroad accountant must learn many things about railroad systems and the public regulation of railroads that another accountant does not need to know.

In the divisional and general offices a great deal of statistical work must be done. A number of clerks are employed in preparing exhibits for the rate or wage hearings, of which there are usually one or more in progress in some part of the country. Much of this statistical work is done in the traffic department.

PLAN No. 976. THE TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT

The traffic department is the rate-making and traffic-getting department of the railroad. In this department much correspondence is carried on; many letters are received, answered, and filed, especially in obtaining traffic. The answering of inquiries of all sorts is in itself a big task. The traffic department considers the revision of old rates and classifications and the issue of new rates or special rates. Here is where individual rates, rate structures, and classifications are first formulated. The change of a rate structure is usually made only after an extended study of traffic conditions and of the probable effect of the proposed rate structure. The traffic department presents such matters to the various classification committees for action, and jointly with the traffic departments of other railroads in the territory covered it forms the traffic association and classification committees. It thus operates to affect rates on other railroads and it presents new rates and classifications to the Interstate Commerce Commission or to State commissions for approval. It must frequently prepare for hearings upon changes in rates and classifications. It draws upon the auditing and operating departments for much of the information upon which new rates are formulated.

There are two divisions to the traffic department, namely, the freight and the passenger divisions. The freight division makes studies of the commodities to be moved, of the competition the railroad has to meet, and of the charges that the traffic will bear without being diverted to other lines or routes. It adjusts claims for lost or damaged freight. It solicits business by keeping in touch with the shipping interests along its line or those who could be induced to use its line in connection with another road. For this purpose traveling freight agents are employed. These men must know rates, routes, commodities, and men. Their employment depends upon their knowledge of their business and their ability to meet and convince, for instance, the manufacturer that he should ship over their line. In other words, they are salesmen of railroad service.

Who are Eligible for Traffic Department Service

Former railroad conductors or brakemen of a high degree of intelligence, who have been disabled in the war, may in some cases wisely elect to take training for service in the traffic department. Much of the information that a conductor or brakeman has learned in his old position will be of value to him. In the traffic department both officers and clerks must know how properly to bill freight, how to calculate both local and through freight rates, and how to route through freight over connecting lines. They must know the junctions where cars can be transferred and where they can not, and where less-than-car load shipments can be transferred without drayage. They must be familiar with the seasonal movement of freight and must know what commodities come from certain districts and with what regularity, in order to anticipate heavy freight movements, and have cars at points where they are most needed. The intelligent conductor or brakeman has already acquired much of this information. Freight conductors are well qualified for training as traffic men, traveling freight agents, terminal traffic men, assistant traffic managers, or even traffic managers. Former clerks in the traffic department also could take training and qualify for better positions.

The passenger division of the traffic department attempts to obtain extensive travel over its lines. Conventions, circuses, and all such attractions for crowds are noted and excursions provided whenever they seem to promise to be profitable. Such excursions must be advertised, and this demands an advertising man in the department.

In large cities where many competing railroads center, city ticket offices are maintained from which solicitors are sent out to induce persons known to be planning a trip to travel on their respective lines. A disabled passenger conductor might qualify by training for a position in this division, and find that his past experience would be very helpful in the new position.

Those formerly in purely clerical positions, who have been disabled, may advantageously take courses in rates and rate making, and thus qualify for higher positions.

Previous Experience of Value for Other Office and Clerical Work

In other departments of railroad service, there are a large number of positions that former train, station, or track men who have been disabled could advantageously fill, utilizing their railroading experience, and taking training for the new positions. These disabled men would have to be men of intelligence and not too old to take up a somewhat different line of work.

Such men could, for example, learn accounting and would find their knowledge of train matters, track affairs, and station duties of value in helping them to understanding certain accounts. Auditors could do their work more efficiently if they understood more of the work in the various branches of railroad service.

Again, top-heavy engines would not be placed on tracks made up largely of curves, in the hope that the high drivers would give greater speed than could be developed from lower-wheeled engines, had the responsible officials or their advisers understood more of track maintenance, especially in cuts in rainy weather. In one instance when high-wheeled engines were placed in service on a road the track men complained immediately, but it took a series of wrecks on curves to induce a change to safer engines.

The claim department could utilize men who have been “out on the road.” Actual railroad experience would be of value to a young man about to enter the legal department of a railroad. A young railroad man inclined to legal affairs could take the training provided by the Federal Board, and thus make his disability a means of advancement to one of the highest paid positions on railroads.

The purchasing agent and his assistants could undoubtedly gain in efficiency by having in their offices men who have had actual experience in handling the materials that these agents must purchase. When to insist upon strict compliance with all specifications, and when in the case of certain specifications to make concessions, are matters that may involve large sums of money and in such matters the advice of men with actual experience in using the materials would be very helpful.

PLAN No. 977. AN ESTIMATE OF A RAILROAD GENERAL MANAGER

Percy R. Todd, Assistant to District Director and General Manager, Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, Bangor, Me., says:

“There always has been, and, in my judgment, always will be a demand in excess of the supply for the following classes of employees, particularly relating to office work, viz.:

“Stenographers.

“Tariff clerks (trained in the framing and publication of freight and passenger tariffs in accordance with Interstate Commerce Commission rules).

“Freight claim clerks (trained in the handling of both overcharge and loss and damage freight claims).

“Waybill clerks (there has always been great difficulty in obtaining trained men to make waybills at stations).

“Telegraph operators.

“Expert railroad accountants.

“Clerks trained in valuation of railroads.

“In all of the above-mentioned lines, so far as my personal experience goes, there has always been a shortage and probably always will be.

“As to stenography, I consider it the very best medium through which any young man can make progress on a railroad, as it lifts him at once above the mass of clerks and gives him an individuality and a touch with executive officers which almost invariably leads to his promotion.

“In this connection I might add that the traffic manager of the New York Central Railroad, * * *, was at one time my stenographer when I was connected with the New York Central System, and rose from that position to be traffic manager of all their lines; the president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, who died three or four years ago, started as a stenographer with the Michigan Central Railroad at Chicago.

“The general manager to-day of one of the New England railroads started as a stenographer with the same company, and I could give a great many more instances of what stenography has done for men who had the brains to back it up.”

PLAN No. 978. SHOPWORK

For the second group of employments designated, shopwork, the physical requirements are higher than for office and clerical work, since shopwork generally calls for at least ordinary strength and eyesight. Shopworkers include general foremen, gang and other foremen, machinists, boiler makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, painters, upholsterers, electricians, air brake men, car inspectors, car repairmen, mechanics helpers, and apprentices. A number of men now employed in these occupations have suffered injuries to hands or feet, or have defective hearing. Foremen can perform their duties under disabilities that would be serious handicaps for workmen, but a foreman needs good eyesight.

Skill Required for Shopwork

Practically all of these occupations require considerable skill and general knowledge of railroad equipment. While the workmen have machines with which to perform many operations in the shop, still much handwork must be done. This is the case because repair work is varied, and the work must usually be done partly on the car or engine, sometimes out on the road. The machinist’s work is generally heavy and greasy. Some of the carpentering and paint work is rough, as is that on box cars, while some, such as the cabinet making and varnishing of passenger coaches, is highly skilled.